SPEARTAIL GUPPIES

    A REKINDLED INTEREST IN SPEARTAIL GUPPIES

Why have Speartails dissappeared from the tanks of breeders in North America?  Think it's about time we make a change in that trend...

Multi-Colored Speartail, courtesy of Whitney, L 1952 - All About Guppies

© Alan S. Bias

Permission granted for nonprofit reproduction or duplication of photos and text with proper credit for learning purposes only.

December 16, 2023

For the past two years give or take I've started back working with Speartails.  Something I have not done since a teenager, and that was quite some time ago.  Over 45 years ago to be exact.  Foundation stocks for my current Speartail breedings were obtained from my good friend and fellow breeders Gary Lee of Taipei, Taiwan and Henrik Schneider of Großaltenstädten, Hessen, Germany.

Halfblack Snakeskin Speartail, photo courtesy Gary Lee

Over the last several years, starting with IKGH stocks, through outcross and consistent selection Gary has produced some wonderful results within his Speartail breeding program.  While working with varied genotypes, to date, he has concentrated primarily on showing Halfblack Snakeskin (NiII, SSb/t) phenotypes.  Periodically entering his best fish in IKGH shows and providing his stocks to breeders not only in many parts of Asia, but also Europe and North America.  His breedings and show results can be found and followed at The Guppy Master Project.

Schimmelpennig Platinum Speartail, photo courtesy Henrik Schneider

Henrik has also produced some wonderful results within his Speartail breeding program.  He has concentrated primarily on Schimmelpennig Platinum (Y-Sc) in Blond (b) & Purple Body (Pb) phenotypes.  Also entering his best fish in IKGH shows and providing stocks to breeders in Europe, and now Asia and North America.  His breedings and show results can be found and followed at Hessen Guppys.

At one time Speartails, and other small tail phenotypes, were quite common in North America and around the world.  Reasons for loss of interest and thier demise can only be based on speculation.  In part the rise of Broadtail phenotypes, to include delta and viel, in the 1950-70s played a played a roll in declining interest.

Photo courtesy Madsen 1974 - Aquarium Fishes in Color 

I suspect an often lessor considered culprit came to play for many breeders.  That being a rather complex genotype.  Color and pattern aside, Speartail body and finnage is derived from several combinations of X-link and autosomal genes that are needed to produce desired results in both heterozygous and homozygous conditions.  The latter producing long and thin elongations of the gonopodium referred to as "spirelli" in breeder circles. Resulting in a high cull rate.

Such extensions preclude use of many of the best Speartail males as potential sires without surgical alteration or at best use during a very brief period of time just after the onset of sexual maturity.  Well before mature finnage and other attributes can be thoroughly evaluated.

Speartail is also intrinsic with Opaque (Op) genotype.  Another autosomal incompletely dominant gene which alters angles of crystalline plateletes which reside under the violet-blue iridophore structureal color layer.  Producing "dull and muted" colors, i.e. translucent scale phenotypes.  In homozygous fashion this color inhibition can be quite dramatic, again resulting in a high cull rate.

Lacking a class to exhibit within the International Fancy Guppy Association (IFGA), Speartails are now rarely seen, if not absent, in the tanks of American and Canadian breeders.  Though, they have persisted in the hands of Europian breeders and within the confines of International Kuratorium Guppy High-breeding (IKGH) shows.

In Asia interest in breeding Speartails has seen a steady increase over the last several years.  Though, much of this interest has been commercially driven and not often in the hands of breeders dedicated to producing show quality stocks that adhere to established IKGH standards.  While resulting in many novel Speartail phenotypes, quality is often lacking and many fail to take hold and persist in breeder tanks.

On occasion, "spear-like" phenotypes are seen among breeder results with wild-type Guppies.  Most of these do not stem from defined Speartail breedings.  Rather, they derive from reciprocal Peocilia reticulata x P. r. wingei breedings.  While such individuals can be refined through selection and backcross into true Speartails, most are used in a fashion which continues to produce haphazard results. 

As with all complex phenotypes, selection for Speartails cannot be maintained indefinitaely without periodic outcross from compatible stocks existing within a breeders population or from infusion of unrelated stocks sourced from other breeders.  Attempting to linebred long-term or indiscriminately will result in severely reduced fecundity across all aspects, both visible and unseen.

Speartails, like many unique finnage modifications, require a rigid selection criteria requiring high rate of culling to produce a rather small percentage of desired result.  Upon outcross, initial F1 and F2 offspring will produce a varied result in dorsal and caudal expressions.  Most of which will be culled from a breeding program.  A select few may be used to recombine desired genotype.  

F1 Lowersword x Spear outcross

At the moment I'm working with two specific phenotypes and outcrossings with my various Lowersword phenotypes, as seen in the following photos.  Will see where this journey takes me and if they will continue to hold my long-term interests?  Only time will tell...

Blond Schim Plat Purple Body Spear

Blond Schim Plat Purple Body Spear

F1 Lowersword x Blond Schim Plat Purple Body Spear

F1 Lowersword x Blond Schim Plat Purple Body Spear

Red Snakeskin Saddleback Spear

Red Snakeskin Saddleback Spear

Red Snakeskin Saddleback Spear

Red Snakeskin Saddleback Spear

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Find you're spending less time in your fishroom?  Maybe it's time to refocus and reaffirm your goals and interests in breeding.  Show season is just around the corner!

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Working With Vienna Emerald Swords

Do Breeders excessively concentrate their efforts on production of singular phenotypes at the expense of overall genotype?

Grey Vienna Emerald Doublesword male

© Alan S. Bias

Permission granted for nonprofit reproduction or duplication of photos and text with proper credit for learning purposes only.

March 16, 2023

When it comes to breeding Vienna Emerald Swords, I find the biggest issues are often created by the breeders themselves.  Most breeders try to maintain complex strains with far too few breeding’s in too small of a population.   Especially, when compatible breeding schemes are not utilized across multiple phenotypes comprised of similar genotypes.  Such as Blue – Green – Purple in solid or halfblack.  Compatible breeding schemes allow for creation of a much larger “combined breeding population” within an individual fish room or shared among breeders who regularly exchange their stocks.

Several breeding’s made yearly and maintained in a dozen tanks is a requiem for failure when maintaining complex phenotypes in isolation. In my experience a minimum of 40-60 tanks are required to maintain a strain long-term.  Keeping in mind, a breeding strain is not necessarily comprised of a single phenotype.  Rather many phenotypes as a collective group.   At times I run 80-100 tanks of Lowerswords, saving 50-100 drops per year.  A large population allows for needed beneficial mutations to accrue through various genetic principles and mechanisms.  This same concept also allows for identification and culling of deleterious alleles, without need for drastically reducing numbers at any given point in time.

Grey Vienna Emerald Lowersword male

Far too many breeders are focused on linear breeding’s and routinely turning a generation with each breeding result. When your fish are at a point that is satisfactory to you as a breeder it is OK to maintain a "status quo" and utilize the same generation via lateral breeding’s for 2-3 years. Backcrosses can further alleviate the perceived need to turn a generation to improve results.

Think of your breeding program in terms of an isolated wild-type or feral population.  Poecilia reticulata (Guppies) are not like seasonal breeding Salmonid populations.  Healthy Guppy populations are maintained through multiple breeding's throughout the year, and comprised of multiple age groups at any given time.  Why should we as breeders not maintain our domestic breeding programs along a similar parallel as found in healthy wild-type?  I have done so for decades.

In addition to multiple sex-links both X and Y, sum total genotype of "Vienna Emeralds" includes multiple autosomal genes. Both recessive and incompletely dominant.  Autosomal variation, the random nature of recombination among autosomal genes, precludes production of a single "fixed phenotype" in high numbers for extended periods of time.

Mother Nature imposes this principle for a reason.  That being, autosomal genes confer positive benefit only in heterozygous fashion. Attempting to maintain autosomal genes in homozygous fashion long-term confers negative benefit across multiple areas of fecundity within and beyond color-pattern, size and shape. An easy example to visualize is Sickle Cell Disease. The sickle cell anemia gene confers positive benefit to individuals and populations in heterozygous fashion, i.e., immunity from malaria. Yet, in homozygous fashion is lethal.

Grey Purple Body Lowersword male

Another example in Guppies is autosomal incompletely dominant Purple Body (Pb).  Pb mode of inheritance allows for populations to be comprised of three phenotypes:  pbpb - Pbpb - PbPb in a 1:2:1 ratio.  Each construes positive or negative benefit in open or closed canopy environments under a multitude of predation regimes.  In breeder tanks each is used as a "tool" for propagation and maintenance of specific phenotypes.  When Pb selection is narrowed wild-type, feral and domestic populations suffer in the long-term.

Grey Vienna Emerald Doublesword males

These same principles apply to all autosomal genes, if you know where to look. What does this mean as a breeder of autosomal genes?  Rather than seeking to narrow your genotype in quest of a singular phenotype, focus your breeding program on maintenance of multiple autosomal genes, in various states of zygosity, to produce a multitude of phenotypes within your overall breeding scheme.  

In turn, this will strengthen your breeding population as a whole.  Yet, allow for production of a smaller percentage of desired results across multiple phenotypes…

Grey Vienna Emerald Lowersword male

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The number of tanks you maintain as a breeder is not the point.  Because it will never be enough.  The point is whether you utilize your available tanks efficiently in quest of your desired result.  Set your goals realistically...

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